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I’ve spent the last five years building a library of cartoons on DVD and sometimes I fear that I get too caught up in acquiring new series and not spending nearly enough time actually sitting down and watching them. Since it had been awhile, I decided to devote an entire afternoon of my recent vacation to planting myself on the couch and getting reacquainted with the first season of the Sunbow Transformers cartoon, a feat that I haven’t attempted since I was in middle school. I’ve always been more apt to watch the 1986 film than the actual series that proceeded it, and over the years I’d forgotten how many of the little things that I loved about those first 16 episodes. I thought I’d talk a bit about some of the highlights over the next week or so…

So, first things first, can the Autobots fly?

For some reason I was always under the impression that one of the things that separated the Autobots from the Decepticons was the enemy’s ability to fly, regardless if they had some sort of aircraft for their alternative mode. In fact some of the most common scenes from the series are consist of a sky full of Decepticons either flying into the extended opening to their hidden sea base or while retreating from battle. But the Autobots on the other hand seemed to very rarely take flight, and when they did it seemed to be limited to Sideswipe or Sunstreaker (the two flashy Lamborghinis of the team) who had jet packs. That concept always made sense to me since the Autobots mainly consisted of cars and trucks while the Decepticons were an assemblage of jets, birds and insects. If nothing else, the Decepticons alt modes are fashioned after war or spy-influenced devices and it kind of makes sense for them to have powers above and beyond the heroes.

So I was taken aback a bit by the first few episodes that showcase the entire Autobot team flying into battle. This is the kind of storyline continuity debate that really brings the nerdiness out in the fandom, and honestly it’s something easily explained by the differences in cartoon writers ideas and how difficult it is to create a consistent set of rules and guidelines when creating a fictional universe. I’m not sure whether flight was addressed in the Transformers series bible (developed by the story editors and show creators to help the writers keep the series consistent), but my guess would be that writers like George Arthur Bloom and Donald F. Glut wanted/needed the characters to fly for the scenes they were working on and so they didn’t hesitate in making that happen. I can imagine it’s a pain to have to constantly flip through the bible while writing a script, and I doubt at the time that they were considering that people would be watching these episodes almost 30 years later.

Spike really wanted to blast some Deceptichops!

When the Decepticons come calling the Autobots are usually there to stand up and fight, but every so often they’re just too damaged or scared to carry on the fight. That’s when it’s Spike’s time to shine, and these scenes usually involve him grabbing one of the Autobots oversized laser guns and then comedically hoofing it into battle. There’s something really absurd about these scenes, and it’s not the huge blaster he’s toting and firing, but the fact that the Autobots let him get that involved in the battles. This is the kind of weird logic-defying writing (employing a relatable vehicle character for the audience to feel connected to) that bugs me a bit about the cartoon, and honestly it’s one of the main things that keep me from enjoying the recent big screen adaptations. I’m watching the Transformers to see giant robots square off, and all the human drama tends to get in the way. Don’t get me wrong, it can be done well, just look at the original Japanese Godzilla film, but there are times when it’s just a bunch of whining and overly implausible situations that take me right out of the story. I do have to admit that Spike’s passion to fight the good fight gets to me emotionally; I just wish it didn’t typically involve hefting a blaster that’s bigger than his own body…

Energon Cubes = the Flashiest MacGuffin ever!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from re-watching these episodes it’s that Megatron wants his damn energon Cubes, and like right NOW! Every single episode revolves around the Decepticon tyrant devising a plan to manufacture energon Cubes, be it stealing energy from a power plant, tapping into the Earth’s core, or utilizing an antimatter formula. And in every single episode his plans are thwarted, the energon Cubes are destroyed, and it’s back to the drawing board. What I never understood as a kid was why the Autobots weren’t on a similar quest to find the fuel they need to replenish themselves and to get them back home to Cybertron. If energon is the fuel that these sentient robots need in order to survive, wouldn’t they all need it regardless of political stance or faction?

Regardless, I love how crazy and versatile these cubes are. Typically created by Soundwave out of his tape-deck chest, the cubes are clear and empty until filled with some form of energy (from fire and lightning, to oil or ever the energy released by volcanos and natural disasters) after which they turn into a rainbow of flowing back-lit colors. It’s one of the most stunning light and animation effects in the series, and it certainly helped to define and differentiate the look of the Transformers series from other syndicated action fare of the 80s.

Wait … Hauler? I thought his name was Grapple, and he didn’t come until later!

One of the things that I was really curious about when re-watching these episodes were which characters appeared and when. I’ve read in interviews with some of the Sunbow story editors that Hasbro wasn’t overly restrictive in terms of trying to match up characters that were on the toy shelves to those in the current episodes, but then again there was that idea to kill off the majority of the original Autobots and Decepticons for the ’86 film to make room for all the new movie characters on the toy shelves. From what I can gather though, all of the characters present in the first season were part of the first two waves of toys from 1984-85, and most were from wave one. The wave two exceptions were the Dinobots, Skyfire, the Insecticons and the Constructicons, all of which were special and more or less had specific origin stories. Well, except for a character named Hauler who shows up in the first episode only in his alt mode. What I find strange about this is that Hauler would later appear as the character Grapple both in the cartoon’s second season and in the second wave of toys. I’m sure George Arthur Bloom, the writer for this episode, included the character in the script with no thought to the release schedule of the toyline, probably after seeing a variation of the toy or box art. I always find these little mistakes in continuity interesting though…

Reflector, generic Decepticon clone or just as cool as Soundwave?

Finally I wanted to talk about another odd character from the first season that I feel never really got a fair shake, the Decepticon Reflector. Though he, and by he I mean the three robots that speak in conjunction and make up “Reflector”, gets plenty of screen time in the first sixteen episodes, there’s something awfully generic about his character design that tends to keep him in the background. I think a big part of this is that he is comprised of three robots that all look alike with the exception of the “main” bot who has different markings on his legs and has the lens of his alt mode camera on his chest. Since repeated character designs are extremely common in the series (consider the Decepticon seeker jets Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker or Ironhide and Ratchet), when you see a set that has the same color scheme and design it tends to make them feel like drones instead of main characters. It also didn’t help that the character didn’t receive an American toy release until 1986, and even then only as a mail-away figure which made him even more rare.

I find that this kind of a shame because when you stop and think about it, Reflector is just as dynamic and interesting as Soundwave, but not nearly as popular. Both characters are comprised of multiple robots (if you consider Soundwave’s arsenal of cassettes), both transform into common household electronics (camera/tape deck), and both are commissioned by Megatron to spy on the Autobots. Soundwave does have a leg up in that his voice (provided by the ever awesome Frank Welker) is a bit more interesting and iconic. I think in the pantheon of Transformers characters Reflector is the one that got the shortest shrift and probably deserves a nice Classics redeco toy to be released.

Next week I’ll discuss another handful of topics that struck me including the characters pre-Earth designs, some more interesting and weird powers, and a weird plot connection to the new summer blockbuster Transformers 3!

Before I step away from the Spiral Zone for awhile I thought I’d talk about another interesting angle this series took with its advertising and marketing. Though the Spiral Zone franchise had its share of merchandising (with a small toy line and lunch boxes at least), it potentially reached most of it’s audience outside of the cartoon through the 4-issue DC Comics mini series and its subsequent comic ads in other DC titles back in 1987. It’s an assumption, but one based on the idea that the comics had a greater reach at the time as they were offered in so many more locations than the toys, and even if the actual SZ comics weren’t connecting with people, comic readers most likely saw the ads while flipping through their favorite titles…

What sort of fascinates me about this advertising is that DC and the ad designers chose to reuse a striking panel from the first issue of the comic featuring the character Tank worrying about his boy who is held captive in the zone. He’s imaging all the other children sucked into zombie-like obedience to Overload, which Carmine Infantino chose a bunch of ghostly floating heads to illustrate the point. It’s a striking image, more so in the actual comic than in the ad above as there are many more children depicted so it really nails that feeling of hopelessness and loss. I think the idea to highlight this panel was both genius and frightening as a way to draw potential young readers into the series by making them the prime candidates for zonification. Sort of a call to “Read the issue and watch as the Zone Riders take on the Black Widows, or Overload might be coming for you!”

This is sort of a similar tatic used in the editing of the opening sequence for the cartoon series. After the opening scene with Overload warning the viewers to “surrender or pay the consequences”, there is a barrage of imagery and one bit in particular with is really eye catching. It involves a short bit where a zoned child is standing in the path of Max Jones as he’s speeding by on his mono-cycle. Just as he’s about to hit the kid he swerves a bit and garbs him, taking him along on a trip out of the zone…

The totally empty and slightly sad expression on the kid really sells the danger of the Spiral Zone and it’s a bit harsher in terms of disturbing imagery than in your typical 80s cartoon. It reminds me of some of the darker 80s kids flicks like The Lady in White, Explorers (at least some of the family life subtext behind the Darren Woods character), or more specifically, Something Wicked This Way Comes. It can be really unsettling to watch children having to deal with the problems of adults, in particular with the risk of imprisonment, slavery or death, and that’s sort of what’s touched on it the Spiral Zone. The opening credits scene with the kid getting scooped up by Max Jones comes from the series pilot episode called Mission into Evil…

The episode opens with a kid out shopping with his mother at the edge of the zone territory. Even though there are a bunch of signs and barricades “blocking” entrance into the mists of the zone, the kid wanders over to take a peek and is surprised to hear the faint lilting tune of circus music being played on a harpsichord..

Not able to fight his curiosity the kid gets close enough to the zone that he’s easily snatched up by Duchess Dire and pulled into the murky mists to be zonified. This sequence feels like it borrows heavily from the influence of Something Wicked and the lure of the circus that two boys just can’t fight. What’s weirder and even more disturbing is that the boy is left alone to wander the zone, waiting from any possible orders from Overloard. I guess in a way it’s also riffing on the Pinocchio story as well.

There’s another disturbing turn in this episode after the child is brought out of the zone. Even though the Zone Riders saved him, he was still under the influence of Overlord and at one point he gets his hands on a laser pistol which he then levels at the heroes. Though it’s easily taken from him, the imagery is still weirdly out of bounds for 80s cartoons, and it’s an example of how far television animation had come by 1987.

The end of the 80s really was a time of transition for me, not so much in that the decade was coming to a close, but because there were a lot of changes in my life. Id just turned thirteen and most of the family was uprooting from out home of the previous 12 years. My sister had decided to stay behind in Florida as the rest of us made our way up north to Massachusetts (a temporary stopgap on the way to New Hampshire where we’d only end up spending nine months before moving back down south to Georgia.) I was stuck in that awkward phase where I still wanted to collect toys and spend every afternoon and Saturday morning watching cartoons, but at the same time I was trying to act more like an adult after moving into middle school and riding the same bus as the high school kids. Heck, even though I still loved a lot of the cartoons and toys from my childhood, these properties and franchises were beginning to die out. There hadn’t been an peep on the Star Wars and He-Man fronts for a few years at that point (except for the New Adventures of He-Man which I was ignoring), and G.I. Joe and Transformers were both starting to convulse with the death throws of ailing toy lines (Pretenders and G.I. Joe in space anyone?) Though there was a brand new crop of cartoons that were vying for my attention, only a handful caught my eye (C.O.P.S., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Real Ghostbusters, and Beetlejuice.) For the most part, in those last few months in Florida I started tuning out to kid’s stuff.

After the move, when we first got settled in our Massachusetts apartment, I went through a weird mourning period. I wasn’t enrolled in school yet because we were waiting for our new house to be finished in New Hampshire, and there were no kids in the complex where we lived. It was the middle of winter, my first experience being cooped up during snow and ice storms, and I was really starting to miss my friends. Even though I’d lost a lot of interest in the current crop of cartoons, they were a link back to Florida and happiness, so I started gorging on them as much as I could. We didn’t have cable during that time so I only had access to a couple of UHF channels and the main networks, and what I discovered were a bunch of shows that I’d never seen before. I didn’t realize it at the time but most of these new cartoons were actually a couple years old and I count myself very lucky to have been exposed to them before they disappeared into obscurity.

There was Denver the Last Dinosaur about a group of kids who unearth a bipedal talking brachiosaur from a giant egg in a tar-pit, and Bionic Six which was basically a cross between the Brady Bunch and the Six Million Dollar man. But the one show I really fell for was called The Spiral Zone…

Set 20 years in the future of a potential 2007, the story follows an elite band of heroes called the Zone Riders led by Col. Dirk Courage who are Earth’s last defense against the Spiral Zone. The zone is a cloud of dark mist that engulfs half of the earth’s landmass. Created by mad scientist Dr. James Bent, the biological zone mist is dispersed by a sort of organic mechanical generator that the doctor developed, and it has the effect of turning most humans into mindless zombie slaves. After being dismissed from military service, Bent hijacked a space shuttle and started “planting” these generators all over the Earth. He took on the moniker of Overlord and built a specialized army, called the Black Widows, to help him take control of and rule the world.

Though society continues to function in non-zone areas, Overlord is gaining ground and it’s up to the international members of the Zone Riders, Wolfgang “Tank” Schmidt, Max Jones, Hiro Taka, Kat Anastasia, and Col. Dirk Courage (who are equipped with special armor and vehicles that can protect them from the zone mist) to stop him.

First and foremost, what really stuck me as a kid, and even now, is the interesting visual design of the series. The zombifying effect of the zone causes the skin to break out in vivid red lesions, as well as a yellowing of the eyes and a slack jawed expression.

For an action cartoon from the 80s, this is pretty disturbing stuff and adds a very serious tone to the overall production quality of the show. I especially love how these zone symptoms were worked much more artistically into the character designs of the villains. Take Overlord for instance. With his overly exaggerated black brow, under which his small eyes are sunken into large skull-like red lesions, and the batwing-like design around his nose and mouth he is both ghoulish and evil looking. Add to this the skeleton tooth-like texture on his upper lip and it makes for a truly frightening visage.

The mix of symmetry and character traits is also intriguing. Though all the villains have heavily patterned red facial lesions, there is a distinct separation between those full invested in the cause (or who are too dumb to know otherwise) who have very eye-pleasing symmetrical splotches, and those who would even stab Overlord in the back who tend to have asymmetrical blots (usually giving the character a Two-Face like appearance.) This level of thought put into the character design is awesome and it’s a trait I wish I saw more often in animation.

Though the hero characters are overly wholesome and “white bread” in their character designs, a lot of care was put into their very iconic vehicle design that also really floors me. Col. Courage pilots what can only be described as a giant cannon mounted on top of a huge wheel. He sits at the center of the wheel and is balanced on both sides by ski-like skids.

All of the other characters drive very interesting anime-influenced single wheel motorcycles that are both compact and very novel in design. As far as I can tell, the Spiral Zone cartoon was very loosely based on Bandai’s Japenese toy line of the same name (of which pretty much on the design of the vehicles and some of the armor makes the transition), but the idea of mono-wheel mechanical transportations is hardly a new one (with examples of potentially fuel-based working models dating back as far as 1931, as well as manymoderndesigns.) Though I first saw them in the Spiral Zone cartoon, they were also a popular mode of transportation in another Japanese property, the Venus Wars from 1989. In fact, when I was first exposed to the Spiral zone I only caught a couple of episodes and even though the character design had a big impact on me I probably would have completely forgotten about it if I hadn’t taken a chance on picking up a copy of the Venus Wars back in the early 90s when anime was making its first huge influx into America. Watching that movie over and over is what kept the vehicle designs from the Spiral Zone alive and well in my memory.

If the super awesome character and vehicle designs weren’t enough to cement this show as a seriously interesting bit of animation history, there is also a legacy of top notch writing on the series. Though like most 65-episode syndicated cartoon series of the 80s the level of the writing can be hit or miss, there was some great talent working on this show including J. Michael Strazinski (though he did end up taking his name off the credits in lieu of a pseudonym) and my favorite animation writer from the 80s, Michael Reeves. Reeves penning scripts for a series is almost always a great sign of boundary-pushing and iconic concepts my all time favorite being the episode of Dungeons and Dragons where Hank and gang decide to take the offensive and hunt down Venger), and Strazinski has a history of helming great series like Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and The Real Ghostbusters. Because of the main plot, the series deals with a lot of higher level concepts beyond just good versus evil and strays into some odd territory for children’s programming like survivalist militia groups and acceptable losses during war. I’m not saying that the episodes are all heady Band of Brothers-like romps into morality, but there are a lot of issues brought up that you don’t tend to see in cartoons. They’re just undertones most of the time, like the racial genocide theme in the original Transformers cartoon. Also, unlike its predecessors G.I. Joe, The Transformers, He-Man, etc., the series does feature a bit more violence. Characters typically use laser guns and rifles, and there are sequences with characters getting hit, though it’s usually always on a “stun” setting ala Star Trek. It does add to the grittiness of the series though.

Also, this show was also one of the series Bruce Timm worked on before striking out a couple years later with Batman the Animated Series. The voice cast is great as well featuring many Sunbow actors including Michael Bell, Frank Welker, Neil Ross and Dan Gilvezan…

The series also features one of my favorite cartoon theme songs from the 80s. Written by Stephanie Tyrell, and performed by Steve Tyrell (husband, brother?), Max Gronenthal, and Ashley Hall, the tune is a hair-metal-inspired classic with a pumping chorus that would be right at home with the soundtrack to Transformers the Movie. Seriously, the song will put hair on your chest.

Before this becomes a dissertation of intriguing obscure animation, I’ll cut this installment short with some more general facts about the franchise. Though the series did receive a full 65 episode order, it didn’t make a huge impression on its target audience. The toy line, adapted from Bandai by Tonka in the states, was also a relative dud, most likely because it centered on the classic G.I. Joe and Barbie 12″ doll format which never really caught on in the 80s. Honestly, figures any larger than the 6″ Masters of the Universe line tended to be duds (including Bravestarr and V.) It was merchandised a bit with a least a lunch box and a 4-issue comic book series released by DC (written by Michael Fleisher and penciled by Carmine Infantino.)

The series was never officially released on DVD (though it was released on a handful of VHS tapes collecting a smattering of episodes), but there is a complete set floating around on the internet produced by Spiral-Zone.com with the aid of the original series supervising director Pierre De Celles (who provided the series masters on VHS to the website for DVD production.) Though it’s currently listed as sold-out on the site, the webmaster seems open to limited print runs when there’s enough interest. I bought the set as soon as it became available a few years ago and I have to say it’s pretty darn cool. The quality on most episodes ranges from about a 7-8 out of 10, definite VHS quality, but they are far from unwatchable and pretty much are only available in this format.

More or less, the tone that I try and keep here at Branded is one of an earnest optimism. Personally I find a bit tedious to read articles filled with ranting and too much mockery, and when it comes down to it, it’s just more fun to talk about stuff that I love. Every once in a while though, there’s something that I want to write about that stretches the limit of credible good natured excitement. It might be something that I enjoy, but when it comes down to it I’m probably enjoying it for unfortunate reasons. Like watching a particularly bad Ed Wood movie (yes, there is a range in his filmography and, no, Plan 9 From Outer Space is far from his worst film), or tuning in to the first couple of episodes of American Idol to see the current year’s crop of horrible singers, sometimes one can’t help but revel in stuff that is just gloriously bad.

For today’s Cartoon Commentary I’m going to take a look at an episode of Rambo and the Force of Freedom which originally aired in 1986. Produced by Ruby Spears, and based on the action film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone, the Rambo cartoon is one hell of a strange nut to crack and was the keystone in one of the oddest merchandising machines of the 80s. Throughout the 60s and 70s with the adoption of the Motion Picture Association of America ratings system, lines were being drawn around what was considered proper entertainment for children. For the most part, most films and TV shows didn’t have a ton of crossover appeal when it came to their intended audiences, but there were some that landed in that magical spot smack dab in the middle of the age appropriate Venn diagram. On top of this, with the amazing blockbuster success of films like Jaws and Star Wars, whole new avenues of merchandising potential were opening up.

So with the release of films like Alien, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Conan, all of which were aimed at an adult audience, the studios were seeing an interest from a much younger demographic and it was making the marketing of and merchandising of these flicks very complicated. Bottom line, there was money to be made on R-rated films outside of ticket sales, and no one was quite sure how to tap into this pipeline. With Alien we saw the release of a toy based on the iconic xenomorph (from Kenner in 1979) as well as a series of bubble gum cards and stickers from Topps also in 1979. In 1982 we saw the release of an Atari 2600 video game based on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre where players strangely took on the role of Leatherface slaughtering npc’s while trying to hurdle fences and cow skulls. More important to today’s topic is the proposed merchandising of the Conan film back in 1981-82. Mattel toys were interested in acquiring and developing a line of toys based on the Schwarzenegger fantasy film, and this would eventually morph into the Masters of the Universe toy-line and Filmation cartoon. Though not direct Conan merchandising, the He-Man and the MOTU franchise was indelibly influenced by the film and barbarian phenomenon of the late 70s and 80s.

So it shouldn’t be that shocking that with the success of the Rambo films, toys, lunchboxes, stickers and a cartoon were soon to follow…

The Rambo films are the quintessential over-the-top American action flicks of the 80s, the second of which is also the textbook definition of a cash-grab sequel. Rambo: First Blood, Part II, though wildly successful, was an utter parody of the first film, ratcheting up the violence, gore and mayhem a thousand fold and turning movie’s protagonist into a live action cartoon character. Hell, the title alone shows how commercial this film was intended to be both recalling the title of the first film while also adding the character branding, a colon and a comma. So while the live action counterpart of the character was busy killing hundreds of characters on screen, it fell upon cartoon studio Ruby Spears Entertainment, and in particular head-writer Michael Chain’s shoulders to try and figure out a way to make an animated series palatable for kids and parents…

I can’t help but find this cartoon hilarious and horrible on so many levels. Drawing on influences such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe A Real American Hero, Rambo and the Force of Freedom tries way too hard to appeal to kids and parents while also trying to stay true to its roots to absurd effect. Though he totes around an improbably arsenal of combat knives, rocket launchers and machine guns, the Rambo character in the cartoon is more or less played as a pacifist (much in the same way He-Man was characterized in the MOTU cartoon) always looking for a non-violent solution when confronting villains.

Each episode opens with an animated suiting up montage swiped wholesale from the second film. This is followed by some general plot narration in the style of the A-Team (performed by the legendary Don LaFontaine, here’s the theme song and narration), stating:

“Rambo! Anywhere and everywhere the S.A.V.A.G.E. forces of General Warhawk threaten the peace-loving people of the world, there’s only one man to call. Get me Rambo! From the canyons of skyscrapers, to the canyons of remote mountain peaks, liberty’s champion is unstoppable. Rambo! Helped by the mechanical genius know as Turbo and the master of disguises named Kat, the honor bound protectors of the innocent. Rambo, the Force of Freedom.”

All I can say is that Rambo like’s protecting canyons. “Hey Rambo, a family is being held captive in a nearby suburban home! Will you help?” “I don’t know, would you consider the spaces between the houses to be canyon-ous? If so, I’ll do it!”

Seriously though…no wait, this is the point, it’s hard to take this show serious on any level. The episode I’m going to talk about today is called Terror Beneath the Sea, and it was written by Steve Hayes. Typically I look at the first broadcast episodes when I tackle a cartoon, but I only have Vol. 4 of the DVD releases, and this is the one that really jumped out at me (of the eleven available on the disc.) The basic plot of this episode revolves around a remote Eskimo village that’s being attacked by an insane killer whale named Corac. Much like the horror movie Orca, the whale pops up at random, breaking through thick sheets of ice in the village and then skating along the surface gobbling up igloos and causing unparalleled havoc…

A couple military officers happen to be flying by and quickly land to see what the ruckus is all about. The whale ends up dragging their plane underwater trapping them in the village. Apparently when killer whales nonsensically attack an Eskimo village and strand two officers, there’s only one man you can call. Rambo! Incidentally, he just happened to be busy saving one of the dumbest children ever born from getting eaten by a grizzly bear at that moment…

My guess is that instead of adding a Rambo-hosted segment at the end of each episode teaching kids some general dos and don’ts ala G.I. Joe’s Knowing is Half the Battle segments, the producers thought it would be more effective to include them in the actual episodes. But rather than trying to tie them into the plot of each episode, they’d just feature an unrelated scene of Rambo spreading him wisdom before having him receive the call that the world needs him. In this particular episode, we get a chance to see a kid in a forest park watching a bear eat out of a trash can. Even though there are like six million signs warning not to feed the bears, the kid gets out of the car he was sitting in and tries to feed the bear a hot dog. Good thing Rambo was there to deter the bear and to point us to the very obvious signs.

Anyway, that segment wasn’t all that bad, but I found it hilarious that seconds after saving the kid, Rambo’s Force of Freedom team pulls up in one hell of a crazy vehicle. Decked out with both a mounted machine gun and some sort of cannon, this set of wheels is what the team was using to tool around the forest cataloging the animals for the park rangers! Were they expecting a secret terrorist cell during their scouting mission? Jesus, talk about over-preparing for the job…

Learning of the killer whale attack and the stranded officers, Rambo and his crew make their way up to the village. Of course they encounter the crazy killer Corac in a scene swiped right out of Jaws…

In this scene we get some of my favorite lines from Turbo, the master mechanic. As their boat is bumped by the whale he shouts, “Holey pajamas, what was that!” Wow, that’s an awesome exclamation that I’m going to have to try and work into my repertoire. After Corac starts munching on the boat there’s also a great line where Turbo yells, “Shoot Rambo, Smoke that sucka!” I find it fascinating that the writer was more or less penning dialogue for the characters that is very reminiscent of what you’d hear in an R-rated flick. Again, it’s another example of the off dichotomy of adapting this sort of material. Expanding on this weirdness a little is the fact that the production designers on the cartoon decided to include all realistic weaponry instead of taking the G.I. Joe route and creating more futuristic laser-based guns. So instead of featuring a laser rifle that could be “set to stun”, Rambo instead chooses not to fire on the whale after he spots a weird box on its dorsal fin. A bit later, after jumping out of the boat onto some floating pieces of ice, Rambo does use his machine gun to help secure his escape from the killer whale by shooting a ledge of ice creating an obstacle between them. What really surprised me was the realistic firing sound effects, and even some spent bullet cartridges flying off of the weapon. Weird.

Similarly, after they find a secret base where they realize the officers they’ve been looking for have been kidnapped and stored, the team is confronted with a locked door. Instead of having the mechanical expert pick the lock, Rambo just pulls out his rocket launcher (which he affectionately named Hanna) and from point blank range fires on the door! Though the writers were trying to be clever in how they showed Rambo using his weapons in a non-violent manner, they only really succeeded in illustrating how insane and unintentionally violent his problem solving skills are. Again, the unintentional hilarity of a scene like that is just astounding to me. What’s even sillier is that moments after trying their darnedest to portray Rambo as non-violent, they write a scene where in order to get some information they need he dangles a villain scientist over a pool that houses the killer whale. Threatened with the fate of being eaten, the scientist tells them what they want to know, and I couldn’t stop laughing at the length to which the writers were willing to basically show Rambo torturing someone to get information. Granted, I see that it’s tame, especially compared to what Jack Bauer might do to someone on 24, but for a kid’s show in the 80s this was extreme…

Also, there are some crazy scenes with the whale furiously writhing around in pain that are both sad, and sadly hilarious…

Anyway, Rambo ends up realizing that the scientist was using a pain-inducing box to train the whale to attack the nearby villages, so he scuba-suits-up (with yet another montage), and makes friends with the whale by removing the box. After some fun bonding scenes, he and the team take the whale out to General Warhawk’s second hidden underwater base so that they can try and end his wintery evil scheme…

There was some surprising talent on this show. In addition to some great voice talent including Alan Oppenheimer (Skeletor), Neil Ross (Shipwreck on G.I. Joe), Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Frank Welker (Megatron), and Michael Bell (Duke from G.I. Joe), Gil Kane and Jack Kirby also worked as consultants, I’m sure designing the look of the series and characters…

All in all, this series is beyond ridiculous, and lacks all the style and panache of series like G.I. Joe and He-Man. The characters are ridiculous and the plots are gut-splittingly funny, and honestly I can only recommend the show as an example of 80s excess gone horribly (and hilariously) wrong. Yet, even so, I still watch it as a piece of my past…

If you’re curious, all 65 episodes were released by Anchor Bay back in 2005 over a series of 6 single disc DVDs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Well, we finally made it to monster number 31 and Halloween day! Today’s big-headed bad guy is probably one of the most feared villains in the Ghostbusters rogue’s gallery (coming in just a hair below Gozer), the Boogieman!

That’s right, the one and only feeder-of-fright, the bane to children and Egon’s everywhere, the big B. This is the ugly dude hiding under your bed at night. He’s the one casting creepy shadows on your wall when you think it’s just a tree. The Boogieman is also apparently the one using up all your mom’s lipstick and hairspray and then hiding the empty containers in your room so that you’ll get blamed!

Seriously though, along with the Sandman and Sam Hain, the Boogieman is probably one of the most evil foes the Ghostbusters have faced in their animated form. I can say that his huge head and little goat-like legs freaked me out as a kid…

I also think it’s kind of neat that the two cels I managed to score also come from both of his appearances int eh series. The wicked closeup up top comes from episode 81, The Boogieman is Back, and the cel of big-headed B coming out of the door is from episode 6, The Boogieman Cometh…

I was so overjoyed to get a hold of these two cels this past year as this guy is one of my all time favorite monsters from the series. The only hole in my collection right now is Sam Hain, but then as I came to discover when I finally scored a set of series one Garbage Pail Kids, completing a collection can be quite the downer. I think I’ll be okay looking out for that last Real Ghostbusters cel for awhile…

So that does it for another Halloween season here at Branded in the 80s. It was my fifth year celebrating, and the second great year for the Countdown to Halloween hub site. Once again, like in most years past I’m about ready to go into hibernation, but then again I have the first Up! Fair coming up in 19 short days. I think I need a nap…

If you’d like to read more Halloween-y goodness, you can also click on the Halloween Archive link to the left (the banner with King Kong), as well as heading on over to the Countdown to Halloween to check out lists of a bunch of other sites participating in this year’s Halloween blogging event.

For all of those joining me for the first time, welcome to the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters Halloween countdown here at Branded in the 80s! I had a blast last year, so again I’m counting down 31 of my favorite monsters from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. All of these monsters come straight from my vintage animation cel collection, and my wife and I tried our best to put them in a not-so-scary to really-freaking-creepy kind of order with the creepiest falling on All Hallows Eve.

We’re almost there folks. All Hallows Eve eve, or some such junk. It’s been a fun counting down these monsters for a second year and I wish I had more cels to stretch this out for a third year, but I guess I’ll just have to come up with something else to write about. Anyway, today’s penultimate monster is probably one of the better villains from the waning days of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. By this time it was already re-branded Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters, and it was in store for a truly disappointing end. But before we got there we got a chance to sneak a peek at this Toyland demon from episode 126, Busters in Toyland…

Pretty gnarly looking, right? This demon was actually much more Gremlin-like in appearance (see the screen shot below). The crux of the episode revolves around Louis Tulley’s spoiled nephew who seems to have all toys in existence. Louis, trying to wow him on his birthday ends up buying some spectrally possessed action figures (one of which I shared earlier in the month), which kidnap his nephew and steal him away to Toyland. There a demon ruler tricks the boy into accepting the mantle of ruler so that he can be free and leave the realm. A fter the switch of power he reveals his true form, the crazy spiked demon wyrm you see above…

I was really happy to get my hands on this cel because it features Louis, one of the last “main” characters I wanted to have from the show.

Well, one last time I’ll make the call to come back tomorrow for another Real Ghostbusters monster animation cel as I complete the countdown towards my favorite character from the show!

For all of those joining me for the first time, welcome to the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters Halloween countdown here at Branded in the 80s! I had a blast last year, so again I’m counting down 31 of my favorite monsters from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. All of these monsters come straight from my vintage animation cel collection, and my wife and I tried our best to put them in a not-so-scary to really-freaking-creepy kind of order with the creepiest falling on All Hallows Eve.

Today’s spooks are so much ghosts as they are physical manifestations based on dreams that are under the control of one of the Ghostbuster’s coolest villains, the Sandman! These guys hail from episode 7, Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream…

I have to admit that I’m a sucker for skull-related iconography. It has to be one of the basic building blocks of a human’s fear, mixing both the finality of death (how else are you going to see a real skull) and the mysterious unknown inside each and every one of us. So whenever I stumble upon something creepy, imposing and with a cool skull thrown in for good measure, I quite easily fall in love…

I think I also really dug these two because they remind me of two similar villains from my childhood, General Kael (from the much underappreciated Willow) and Warduke (from the Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon and toy line)…

Come back tomorrow for another Real Ghostbusters monster animation cel as I count down towards one of my favorite on Halloween day!

For all of those joining me for the first time, welcome to the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters Halloween countdown here at Branded in the 80s! I had a blast last year, so again I’m counting down 31 of my favorite monsters from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. All of these monsters come straight from my vintage animation cel collection, and my wife and I tried our best to put them in a not-so-scary to really-freaking-creepy kind of order with the creepiest falling on All Hallows Eve.

Today is all about the fan-favorite little green spud, Slimer! Whereas last year I shared a cel of a ghost that had a very striking resemblance to Slimer, and was in fact sort of the Earth 2 evil version of the little guy, today it’s really just the full on evil version of Slimer!

After feeling brushed off and ignored by the guys, Slimer is unfortunately possessed by a gaseous leak from a faulty pipe on the containment unit. It causes the little guy to go all Jekyll and Hyde during the episode…

I really love the amped-up evil Slimer character design, especially his scary mouth full of shark-like teeth. The horns don’t hurt either…

It’s also funny in the episode, because even though this version of Slimer is evil and bent on destruction, he still takes the time to continuously “slime” Peter! There’s also a fun daydream sequence where Slimer has to come and save the gang from another ghost…

Come back tomorrow for another Real Ghostbusters monster animation cel as I count down towards one of my favorite on Halloween day!

For all of those joining me for the first time, welcome to the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters Halloween countdown here at Branded in the 80s! I had a blast last year, so again I’m counting down 31 of my favorite monsters from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. All of these monsters come straight from my vintage animation cel collection, and my wife and I tried our best to put them in a not-so-scary to really-freaking-creepy kind of order with the creepiest falling on All Hallows Eve.

Today’s ghost is only half as scary as he appears, and I’m pretty sure no chains, locks, or boxes could hold him. This creepily floating harpy of a man is actually the ghost of the great Harry Houdini!

I hadn’t seen this episode when I picked up the cel originally, but when I laid eyes on it I couldn’t help but be seriously creeped out. There’s just something unsettling about a crazy looking dude in an unbound-straight jacket that also appears to be screaming bloody murder. This is the kind of ghost I fear bumping into one day. I’d never be so lucky to get a calm, quiet free-roaming repeater. No I’d get a Library Ghost (from the 1st Ghostbusters flick) or something…

Anyway, in this episode, #63 the Cabinet of Calamari, the Ghostbusters are given free passes to a magic show in the hopes that they’ll be able to take care of a pesky ghost that’s been haunting the current act. Suspicions of foul play start to run as the guys are attacked by animated hand saws and swords (Winston sure picked a horrible hiding spot from the swords!)

After some investigation, the gang realizes that the ghost they’ve been hired to bust is actually Harry Houdini who is just trying to get his secrets and diary back from the evil Calamari…

Come back tomorrow for another Real Ghostbusters monster animation cel as I count down towards one of my favorite on Halloween day!

For all of those joining me for the first time, welcome to the Return of the 31 Days of Monsters Halloween countdown here at Branded in the 80s! I had a blast last year, so again I’m counting down 31 of my favorite monsters from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. All of these monsters come straight from my vintage animation cel collection, and my wife and I tried our best to put them in a not-so-scary to really-freaking-creepy kind of order with the creepiest falling on All Hallows Eve.

I was super excited to score today’s monsters. This is actually not one, but a whole mess of cels and production drawings from a short scene in one of my all time favorite episodes, #6, the Boogieman Cometh!

First of all, I love getting my hands on a series of overlapping cels that make up the majority of the on-screen image as it feels so much more like a scene from a cartoon. But also, with this one in particular I got a nice shot of the entire group squaring off against some crazy monsters. I wanted to share two scenes from this segment, so above we have the guys as they’ve just landed on what they thought was a big bed, and then the one below where they realize this bed is comprised of a crap ton of freaky red snakes!

Also, I thought these cels were kind of interesting because the Asian crew that worked on them slipped in a bit more of their local cartoon flair by utilizing the odd code-like blue facial coloring that’s supposed to show extreme fright (or embarrassment.) You typically don’t see these anime aspects filter into the American shows, even though they were usually animated overseas at this time. I really dig it…

You can also see from the sketches that these were thought out and planned…

We’re also getting down to the wire here, with only five more cels left in the countdown. I wonder if I managed to get a hold of some other monsters from this episode? Guess everyone will just have to come back tomorrow for another Real Ghostbusters monster animation cel as I count down towards one of my favorite on Halloween day!